Newbie question

[JonPyle]

I bought microstudio and am testing the hoster demo. I can't seem to find the files created with microstudio when using hoster. Is this prevented in the demo, or am I missing something?

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by JonPyle

I bought microstudio and am testing the hoster demo. I can't seem to find the files created with microstudio when using hoster. Is this prevented in the demo, or am I missing something?

You would need to add the files to the database in Hoster. Do this via the import songs tab in Hoster. Then click Rebuild Database. Make sure the folders where your music files are at are added in the window & rebuild. Now Hoster should pick those files up.

[Roy Dennis]

I'm not familiar with the Demo but would think you could play them by searching with the k-oke button. there is probably a limit on the importing but you could top menu Import Songs then the build database dialog then use the Add folder button in conjunction with the type of file your trying to load,

[JonPyle]

Thanks guys I'll give it a try... My main concern with hoster is can I keep all my songbook numbers the same as is. Over the years we have gotten quite used to them

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by JonPyle

Thanks guys I'll give it a try... My main concern with hoster is can I keep all my songbook numbers the same as is. Over the years we have gotten quite used to them

I doubt it. Hoster allows using a disc ID+track # but it's main numbering system is just a #, altering this can cause problems if you don't understand how it works.
When searching for songs on the main screen you enter a book ID # that Hoster allocates it, If you use your own system you would have to use the search window and type in part of a file name to find the song. If you have the full version it comes with it's own songbook software which will print the books with the Book ID allocated by Hoster or the Manufacturers Disc ID. and Trk #
Also the full version allows you to install on 2 computers, the light version has no songbook and only 1 install and some other extras missing.

[JonPyle]

Well it seems you can't move the files in the demo. Makes sense, but it should be noted somewhere. But you guys tell me it can be done once I purchase it, right. I just don't want to be doing work over after I get it..Sorry to here that the book ID's will change, I can live with it, its the wife thats a stickler. For instance, I had the external burner delivered yesterday, she want's it sent back because it's white. The add showed it black and all our equipment is black, and she says there better not be a restocking fee either...lol...Oh well, got to love them, plus shes the main attraction at our shows.

[ddouglass]

Originally Posted by JonPyle

Well it seems you can't move the files in the demo. Makes sense, but it should be noted somewhere. But you guys tell me it can be done once I purchase it, right. I just don't want to be doing work over after I get it..Sorry to here that the book ID's will change, I can live with it, its the wife thats a stickler. For instance, I had the external burner delivered yesterday, she want's it sent back because it's white. The add showed it black and all our equipment is black, and she says there better not be a restocking fee either...lol...Oh well, got to love them, plus shes the main attraction at our shows.

The question would be how have you numbered your songbooks? The BookIDs used by Hoster consists of a root number from 1 up to 99999 plus a 2 digit track number. Thus the first track imported would be 101, then 102 and so on to say 116, then the next disc would be 201, 202,...216.
The full version of Hoster also includes a Songbook creation section, so if you need to reprint your books to match these numbers you can do this within the program.
When my wife and I started out in Karaoke using a player and discs, we numbered our discs 1 through however many we had and printed our books with ID numbers 1-01, 1-02. SO our transition to the BookIDs was relatively painless. All we had to do was import the CDs in the order we had them numbered and of course the track numbers fell into place.

[JonPyle]

Great, thats how our are numbered also...Thanks

[JonPyle]

Well heres another question. Do you load DJ (audio) cd's with the same numbering system starting with 1-1? We have ours numbered DJ 1-1 upwards. The reason I ask is we run alot of DJ songs in our gigs, and the wife knows all her pet numbers...

[Roy Dennis]

The book ID used in Hoster uses numbers only, no Preceeding letters. If your last Karaoke book Id root was 400 track 15 it would show as 40015 in the book, then your next import weather it be an audio only or video would be allocated 401. which would show as 40101.

There is a way around this which I use myself although it is not recommended. As I don't have the audio or videos printed in my songbook the long # arn't a problem, I select a higher # to start audio imports which you can do providing you remember this each time you enter a new one. As an example if you don't expect the root # for your karaoke songs to exceed 999 make the root for your first audio 1001 this will list your first audio track as 100101 then 100102, 100103 and so on up to track 100199 after which it will be 100201. This way you just note the # after the first 3 digits.

[JonPyle]

That was going to be another question I had. So really its not the order you put them in, but the sequence of numbers. I saw that my song file auto placed them in sequence order, so I thought that was the case...I take it that Hoster and Microstudio share the same song file, I only have the demo, so I'm assuming... Is there a song limit that the song file can hold? We have nearly 8000 karaoke songs and another 5000 DJ songs and those numbers go up monthly...Yep, lugging those cd's is becoming a real bitch...BTW, Microstudio is a sweet program. I like that it tests your blank cd's prior to the burn. It's a little slow but it's cleaned up most of our scrached cd's, I'm restoring a good 9 out of 10 problems...Very simple to use also, I'm hoping Hoster performs as well...A lot more questions to come guys, thanks for the quick responses...

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by JonPyle

That was going to be another question I had. So really its not the order you put them in, but the sequence of numbers. I saw that my song file auto placed them in sequence order, so I thought that was the case...I take it that Hoster and Microstudio share the same song file, I only have the demo, so I'm assuming... Is there a song limit that the song file can hold? We have nearly 8000 karaoke songs and another 5000 DJ songs and those numbers go up monthly...Yep, lugging those cd's is becoming a real bitch...BTW, Microstudio is a sweet program. I like that it tests your blank cd's prior to the burn. It's a little slow but it's cleaned up most of our scrached cd's, I'm restoring a good 9 out of 10 problems...Very simple to use also, I'm hoping Hoster performs as well...A lot more questions to come guys, thanks for the quick responses...

It does put them in sequence automatically but you can override the sequence manually.

Have you tried importing a CD+G directly into Hoster. This might help you understand how it uses the book ID and Disc Id.
From the top Menu Select "Import Songs" in the next dialog choose "import CD tracks" Best to read the manual on this if you don't understand it.

You need to have verified your CD burner to use this option which you can find from Tools/CD/DVD drives and set that before trying to import CD+G disc's

[ddouglass]

To add to what Roy has said. Hoster also uses the same error correcting that Microstudio does. So importing from Cds will also clean up the song files as you import.
What we do for our DJ (audio) songs is like Roy I started all of their numbers at 5001, so they are way above my Karaoke and to keep track those discs have been marked with their bookid, so that I know what the next number is when I import again.
We have grown to around 20,000 songs for karaoke and a few hundred audio that we use before and after our shows. So this system works out quite well for us.

[JonPyle]

Well I downloaded both demos some six weeks back, and surveyed them agianst the other PC programs out there. Although you get a feel for the program, you really never get the revelation of how everything works especially the interaction of the two together, given the limitations with demos. I do like the ease of operation once everything is in the database, even Microsuite is a snap to use for me now (just two days)...We have 453 karaoke cd's and 384 audio cd's already so starting DJ at 1000 seems like the way to go. We seem to need alot because we live in So. Texas and 40% of our cd's are Spanish, and never seem to quench the thirst for more songs...I hope to get Hoster in the next few weeks, I'm keeping busy just fixing our beat up cd's at this point...